Who Is WNBA Star Sabrina Ionescu’s Husband Hroniss Grasu?
The action that occurs during NBA All-Star weekend includes the All-Star Celebrity Game, the Skills Challenge, the Slam Dunk contest, and the 3-Point Contest. In 2024, a new idea to incorporate came about: Stephen vs. Sabrina 3-Point Challenge.
That challenge saw Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry and the WNBA’s New York Liberty superstar Sabrina Ionescu faceoff in their own 3-point competition after the NBA 3-Point Contest and before the Slam Dunk Contest.
Even the casual NBA fan knows a bit about Curry and his family, but what about Ionescu’s life off the court? Here’s more on her contest with Curry and why you might recognize her husband Hroniss Grasu.
Curry and Ionescu came up with the idea after he commented on social media
In July 2023, Ionescu won the WNBA 3-Point Contest breaking a record for both leagues with a 37-point final round, making 25 of 27 3-pointers, including 20 consecutive, and Curry was impressed. The Warriors guard and two-time NBA 3-Point Contest winner took to X posting, “Ridiculous,” to which Ionescu responded, “Shoot out?”
And her challenge was accepted.
Prior to the Stephen vs. Sabrina 3-Point Challenge Ionescu told USA Today: “It’s not like I’m joining the NBA’s 3-point contest. But we’re really having our own and the significance and importance of that and kind of just having that idea stem from a joke and now being able to see it come to life and knowing that it’s going to be a great experience for us both and exciting to see what it’s going to mean for basketball as a whole.”
Curry added: “Watching what she did at All-Star weekend, watching what the WNBA season was like, how it’s continuing to grow and then understanding there’s a nice connection here that’s an authentic competition between two great shooters who’ve had success in a 3-point contest. And now you’re trying to level the playing field … ‘This is the dopest thing in the world, it’s his first of its kind, and it’ll be something that changes the narrative on what it looks like.’ … It’s just competing. Whatever the format is.”
Curry ended up winning their shootout by three buckets with his 29 to Ionesue’s 26.
Who is Ionescu married to and why NFL fans might recognize him?
Ionescu is married to Hroniss Grasu. He was born on Aug. 12, 1991, to parents Ștefan and Mariana Grasu, who emigrated from Romania to Los Angeles in 1982 and opened a restaurant called “Greco’s New York Pizzeria” in Hollywood.
If you’re a football fan, then you may have seen Grasu before. He played his entire college career at the University of Oregon as the starting center for the Ducks and was selected in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. In addition to the Bears, Grasu has played for a number of other teams including the Baltimore Ravens, the San Francisco 49ers, and currently for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Grasu and Ionescu became Instagram official in 2021 and he proposed in 2023. She revealed the details of his proposal on TikTok sharing that she thought she was going to a GQ photoshoot.
“I was completely shocked and caught off guard because he played it off so well,” Ionescu said adding that they were joined that evening by friends and family who showed up in a party bus to celebrate with them. She gushed: “I couldn’t stop taking pictures with my ring. This night was just so special.”
The pair tied the knot on March 10, 2024, in Laguna Beach, California. Some other famous names in sports attended the ceremony including Dallas Wings forward Satou Sabally, former NBA star Pau Gasol, and Kobe Bryant’s widow Vanessa Bryant and their daughter Natalia Bryant.
